Elise Evans
Elise Evans (born December 16, 2004) is an American college soccer player who plays as a center back for the Stanford Cardinal. She represented the United States at the under-15 and under-20 level, winning bronze at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Early lifeEvans was born in Stanford Hospital, to Dena (née Dey) and Marlon Evans, and raised in Redwood City, California. Her family has a history in Stanford college athletics: her father played college football and ran track, her mother played soccer and earned three-time All-American honors in middle-distance track, and her great-grandfather, Ben Dey, won the NCAA doubles tennis title in 1936.[2][3] Her older sister, Adrienne, played college soccer at Penn.[4] Evans played for the San Jose Earthquakes academy team before joining Bay Area Surf, which she captained. She helped win the Girls' Development Academy under-16 national championship in 2019 and the Girls Academy under-19 title in 2022, where she received the tournament's Golden Ball.[2] She attended Woodside High School, where she scored 18 goals in 12 games playing both defense or forward in her senior year in 2022, being named the California Gatorade Player of the Year and USA Today and Just Women's Sports All-American.[2][5] She committed to Stanford as a freshman and was considered the top recruit of the class of 2022 by TopDrawerSoccer.[3][6] College careerEvans started for the Stanford Cardinal as a freshman in the 2022 season. She contributed to one of the country's top defenses, recording shutouts in 12 of 19 games, and added three game-winning goals as the Cardinal claimed the Pac-12 Conference title. She was recognized as the Pac-12 freshman of the year, first-team All-Pac 12, and TopDrawerSoccer national freshman of the year.[2][7] She led the team in minutes played as a sophomore in 2023, helping the team to a near-undefeated record before falling to Florida State in the NCAA championship title game, and was named second-team All-Pac 12 and United Soccer Coaches third-team All-American.[2][8] International careerEvans helped the United States win the 2018 CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship.[9] She trained and played friendlies with the under-16 team in 2019 and 2020.[9][10] She was selected to play at the 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, where she helped qualify for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[11] She started in two games at the U-20 Women's World Cup as the United States finished in third place.[12] References
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